Archive

While Mirko CroCop vs. Ralek Gracie is the only (probably) grappling match of DREAM.4, it’ll be very interesting to see what happens if the Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama fight hits the ground.

Darren Uyenoyama is the 2006 Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu champion in the super featherweight purple belt division, the 2006 Grappler’s Quest champion, and the 2007 FILA World Grappling Championships winner at 62 kg. He has a 4-1 MMA record (3 submissions) and made his MMA debut in Japan in 2002. After that he took a break from MMA competition and returned 5 years later, in 2007, and has fought four times since then.

Takanori Gomi travelled to Las Vegas to watch UFC 84. When he was there he also visited Xtreme Couture where he sparred with Tyson Griffin.

Misaki Preparing For Logan’s Height

Kazuo Misaki will participate in his second fight in SENGOKU in one week where he will face 188 cm tall UFC and WEC veteran, Logan Clark. He is preparing for this fight by sparring with 195 cm Heavyweight kickboxer Jadieep Singh and practicing his new technique, stomps.

Yoshida Working Hard On His Boxing Skills

Hidehiko Yoshida is working hard on his boxing skills for his fight with Maurice Smith next week. He wants to win by KO at least once in his MMA career. Is this a smart strategy against Smith?

He also says that he is hooked on the American TV series Alias. He finished the second season yesterday and will start watching the third season tonight.

Two fights have been added to DREAM.4 on June 15th in Yokohama. The first one is a special grappling rules match between Mirko CroCop and Ralek Gracie and in the second one Hideo Tokoro finally makes his DREAM debut as he takes on Strikeforce veteran, Darren Uyenoyama, in a Featherweight match.

Update: The card is planned to have 9 fights. If KID will participate or not will be announced next week.

Just a few weeks after his second MMA fight against Yuki Kondo at SENGOKU II, Roger Gracie will participate in the 2008 BJJ Mundials that takes place on June 5th to 7th in California. He is looking to defend his title after taking gold in his weight class and in the absolute division last year. As you can see at the top of the post, Roger is also on the cover of the latest Gong Kakutogi magazine in Japan, which you can order here.

The DREAM.4 Middleweight GP Quarterfinal fights have been announced. Kiyoshi Tamura is out with a broken hand suffered in his first round fight against Masakatsu Funaki. His replacement is of course Melvin Manhoef who won the GP reserve fight at DREAM.3.

Manhoef will take on Kazushi Sakuraba in the second round, Yoon Dong Sik will fight Gegard Mousasi, Jacare will face Jason Miller and Kin Taiei will get a rematch against Zelg Galesic.

A new fight for the strange SENGOKU III card has also been announced. Kazuo Takahashi will take on Fabio Silva in a Light Heavyweight match. Takahashi changed his name from Yoshiki (who most people know him as) to his real name, Kazuo, last year.

SENGOKU’s second event is over. There were some good fights, but they need to find some style of their own when it comes to production and such. We’ll see how it looks on June 8th in Saitama Super Arena.

SENGOKU IV will take place on August 24th in Saitama Super Arena where Takanori Gomi will return and SENGOKU V will take place on September 28th in National Yoyogi Gymnasium.

Four fights and one participant were recently announced for SENGOKU III. Yoshida’s opponent will be Maurice Smith, who is 2-0 since his comeback in 2007. Kazuo Misaki will take on UFC and WEC veteran Logan Clark who last fought on WEC 33 in March. Kazuyuki Fujita will not face Yoshihiro Nakao, instead he will fight Yamma 1 Heavyweight Tournament winner, Travis Wiuff. Marcio Cruz’s first opponent outside of the UFC will be PRIDE and HERO’S veteran, Choi Mu Bae, who recently KO’d Gary Goodridge in Korea. Duane Ludwig has also been announced as a participant.